International Tennis Day
by Victoria Scott
It was incredible to see players around the world celebrate International Tennis Day this year. Thank you to everyone who participated and used the International Tennis Day banner in your social posts!
John Lumley from Racquet Club of Philadelphia said, “In Philly, we had an amazing turnout on ITD – started off strong with lessons at 7 AM! We finished the day with a wrong end serving tournament where four countries competed against each other. It was great fun to see Tanfield carrying Lumley to victory for the UK team in their match! Team France ended up taking the overall win. Special shoutout to Brittany Wakim and Alexis Dorr who were dressed representing their countries! Great job RCOP for supporting International Tennis Day!”
Barney Tanfield and team at the Racquet and Tennis Club had their All Comers Summer Handicap Tournament with 24 matches, the draw was massive with over 144 competitors! Whoa.
Lewis Williams had a busy day at Leamington — he said, “We held a ‘beat the Pro’ afternoon, followed by a well-attended Club Night. The Beat the Pro session went well, 7 matches saw the members take down the pros 4/3. With Kannan beating Lewis 8/5 in the decider to take the win! A huge thanks to Mike Lay, Norman Hyde, Ian Calvert, Matt Fattorini, Bob Compton and Kannan Nithi for taking us on! Well played all.
Club Night proved far more exciting than the England vs. Denmark game that was on in the background! 12 members joined the Pro Team to fill an evening with some very relaxed doubles. Huge thank you’s to all who turned up and supported the Club for the day! We hope you all mark June 20th in your diaries for International Tennis Day 2025!”
Ballarat Tennis Club (in their 40th Anniversary Year) celebrated ITD with a hallmark high quality real tennis pennant match, with very warm post-match conviviality (also a Ballarat hallmark), on a very cold winters night (3C/37F).
Hobart Real Tennis Club celebrated with a ITD Handicap Singles Tournament, won by Scott Donoghue despite giving away quite large handicaps throughout his matches. 2025 will be a big year for HRTC, celebrating their Sesquicentennial Year (150 Years Anniversary), and commencing with the Australian Open in January 2025 (Men’s & Women’s titles). If you ever wanted to play Australia’s original court, 2025 would be a great year to go!
Royal Melbourne Tennis Club celebrating ITD on the 50th Year Anniversary of their Sherwood Street clubhouse – had a mix of young players developing their game, seasoned players in for their regular matches and senior members (both playing and retired) attending a lunch. Around the dining table there were many long stories of matches from the past with some recalling playing way back 50 years ago to our original court at Exhibition Street. There is a big week of tennis and social events in mid-October (19-26 October 2024), so let us know if you are in the neighborhood and join in!
Sydney Real Tennis Club – Not yet ready for tennis, but well on their way with a new court for ITD 2025. A very recent major milestone was lifting an entire croquet pavilion (heritage listed) out of the way to allow earthworks and construction to commence. Sydney will return to real tennis with their opening tournament “The Bilby” will be during Easter 2025 (11-21 April 2025). A Bilby is an endangered Australian marsupial which has an appearance akin to the Easter Rabbit.
Thank you to all of the pros and players around the world for coordinating and participating in exciting matches, fun tournaments, and producing some glorious pictures and videos.
